Revamp for unique street

Christchurch’s New Regent Street will
soon be the focus of a major heritage project as part of the
Christchurch City Council’s central city revitalisation
programme.

The New Regent Street shops are listed as Group
2 in the City Plan, as having national or regional heritage
significance, and registered as Category 1 by the New
Zealand Historic Places Trust.

The Council is targeting a
portion of its Heritage Incentive Grant funding over the
next five years to support the necessary repairs,
repainting, seismic upgrades and replacement of decorative
tiling on the 40 shops that comprise the distinctive
street.

Based on 2007 figures, the upgrade is likely to
cost about $1.4 million for the whole street, with the cost
for each property varying. Of this, the Council can provide
grant money of up to 40% of the cost per property. The
Council is expecting this to total about $500,000 over the
life of the project.

This month property owners and
tenants will receive a letter from the Council inviting them
to participate in the partnership project, and outlining the
works eligible for grant funding. Preliminary discussions
with owners have been very positive, and according to
Council Urban Designer Brendan Smyth and Heritage
Conservation Projects Planner Victoria Bliss, a number of
property owners have already expressed an interest in taking
up the offer.

Mr Smyth and Miss Bliss said that over the
past six years, the Council had funded architectural and
seismic investigations and condition reports in a number of
units in the street, and a Conservation Plan for the street
was being prepared.

The background research has enabled
them to identify common structural and maintenance issues
across the street, which include the need for seismic
upgrades, cavity wall tie renewal, parapet waterproofing,
roofing repairs, plaster façade repairs, repainting, and
replacement and repair of the original decorative tiling.

Council staff have worked in conjunction with New Zealand
Historic Places Trust to source a specialist ceramicist able
to replicate the unique hand painted tiles which are such an
important decorative element to the street.

They are now
working together to identify New Regent Street’s original
colour scheme, and investigating options to install replicas
of the terracotta Spanish tiles which formerly topped the
sloping concrete panels on alternate shop units.

--

BackgroundLabelled ‘the most beautiful street
in New Zealand’, by Mayor D G Sullivan at its opening in
April 1931, New Regent Street is known for its distinctive
Spanish Mission architectural style. The style was not
commonly used in Christchurch at the time, and a whole
street in this style is unique in New Zealand.

The design
was the work of local architect H. Francis Willis, also
known for designing the Repertory Theatre in Kilmore Street,
the Edmonds Clock tower and telephone cabinet in Oxford
Terrace, and the streamlined Art Deco dwelling Santa Barbara
in Victoria Street.An entire street made up of small
specialty shops was new in New Zealand at the time and is
believed to have been a precursor to the shopping
mall.Built by a development company, New Regent Street
Ltd., the new street, complete with shop buildings on 40
separate titles, was an ambitious venture during the
Depression years. The street was one of the very few
large-scale projects undertaken in the South Island during
the Depression. Shops were marketed at 2,500 pounds each,
with 100 pound deposit and four pounds rent each week, with
the shop becoming freehold after 25 yearsPetersens
Jewellers Ltd has been based in their shop in New Regent
Street since 1939.Many people still remember the Coffee
Pot which used to be in the street, and was one of the most
popular places to dine out in Christchurch in the
1950s.The street was converted to a pedestrian mall in
1994 and at the same time the central city tram route was
installed down the east side of the street.These days
most of the shops are leased out, rather than being
owner-occupied, and visitors to the street are attracted by
the cafes as well as the specialist shops.The street is
located on the site of the former Colosseum Building, a
large hall built in 1888 which was a popular venue for large
gatherings from political speeches to circuses and a skating
rink, and later used by a taxi
company.

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